I love me some Mary J., and when I stumbled on this song while searching for something else on youtube, it was, not surprisingly, apropos of something I've been chewing on: the word fine. Sometimes when it's uttered, it really means something good -- not just tacit approval, but real affirmation. As in: "Damn, you look fine!" I like to think that's the fine that Mary J. is talking about when she says "Just Fine." But what if, for Mary J. or any of the rest of us, a lot of the time when we say "that's fine" or "I'm fine" or even, Mary J. style:
Fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, ooooh
Fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, ooooh
Just fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, ooooh
You see I wouldn’t change my life, my life’s just fine
What if what we're saying is we're ok with it, but it could be better? What if she wouldn't change her life because it's safe and comfortable, and yes, fine, but maybe it could be superfine if she did change it?
I think she's wrestling, in this song, with being ok by herself -- just fine alone -- even liberated -- and embracing love:
Let it go…
Can’t let this thing called love get away from you
Feel free right now, going do what you want to do
Can’t let nobody take it away, from you, from me, from we
I get that. I'm kind of in the same boat. I'm just fine by myself in many ways. But lucky for me, I've had a chance to experience, during a couple of visits with my man, just how superfine I'm capable of feeling when I'm in love's embrace. And having experienced that, I don't think I'll ever settle for just fine again.
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